MINSK, June 28. /TASS/. A battalion of Polonez multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) has deployed to the designated area near the Belarusian state border with a full ammunition load amid a tense border situation, Belarus’ Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel on Friday, citing the battalion’s commander.
"In the wake of the tense situation near the state border of the Republic of Belarus and in compliance with the assigned objective, the battalion has deployed to the designated area with a full ammunition load and assumed combat duty at assigned sites. It is ready to accomplish the objectives of delivering rocket strikes at a range of up to 300 kilometers within 20 minutes," the ministry quoted the battalion commander as saying.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry reported earlier that Polonez MLRS accomplished the missions of shielding the state border in a snap combat readiness inspection of the republic’s armed forces. As the ministry’s press office informed, "in the designated area, the troops equipped and camouflaged the places of accommodating personnel and equipment and continue accomplishing assigned objectives."
The Belarusian Defense Ministry did not specify the border area that the Polonez MLRS battalion had deployed to.
Belarus’ State Border Committee reported earlier on Friday that the republic had taken additional measures to protect the state border with Ukraine amid reports that the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (outlawed in Russia as a terrorist organization) conducted active reconnaissance in the border area. As the republic’s State Border Committee specified, the border guard forces jointly with the Defense Ministry were carrying out an additional set of measures "to protect the state border and enhance airspace and border area regime control."
Belarus’ State Border Committee reported earlier on Friday that Belarusian border guards had thwarted the violation of the republic’s airspace by a quadcopter heading from Ukrainian territory.
"On June 26, a squad of the Mozyr border guard detachment’s outpost used combat weapons and suppression systems in the Yelsky district of the Gomel Region to thwart the airspace violation by a quadcopter heading from Ukrainian territory deep into the Republic of Belarus. The unmanned aerial vehicle was forced to land 150 meters from the state border," the committee said in a statement.
Video files were found on the UAV’s flash card and their analysis suggests that the "aerial vehicle was conducting reconnaissance of borderline industrial facilities and border infrastructure," it said.
As the Belarusian State Border Committee said, "Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles are regularly observed to conduct reconnaissance flights along the border."
"The attempts by UAVs to intrude into our territory are thwarted by standard weapons and electronic warfare systems," it said.